Our Best Shot
by Daisycupcake811
Summary: Abandoned by her boyfriend in a small town in Maine, Emma Swan welcomes life and maybe a family


He's perfect she doesn't need to see him to know that. This had been nine months in the making, nine months of worry and trying to not get attached to the little being growing inside of her. Neal would make a terrible father and she doesn't need a damn Crystal ball or a fucking Dreamcatcher to tell her that. He took off before she could get the words out and left her with the yellow bug and a being growing inside her.

She stays in the little town in Maine that Neal left her in and gets a job waitressing at Granny's diner. Emma is able to hide her newest addition for almost five months before anyone figures it out. It's Ruby because of course it is and the girl pulls her aside after a shift on a Friday to ask her point blank how far along she is. After that Emma moves into ruby's apartment instead of her room above Granny's and starts to seriously look at her options. Eventually she decides on adoption because this child she reasons deserves a real family, her baby deserves their best chance and she can't give them that.

Shortly after making the decision Emma finds the perfect parents. Robin and Regina Locksly are in their thirties and already have one son named Roland. They live in a large house with a nice yard that has a playground and a tire swing. It's everything that Emma had dreamed about when she was a child and everything all her foster homes were not.

She goes into labor on a Saturday night and Ruby and Granny drop everything to drive her to the hospital. It's a long and stressful process, the labor is slow and painful, for the first time Emma wishes she had a mother to hold her hand or give her advice. She has Ruby though, and Granny who both sit with her throughout the night waiting for this child to arrive. After almost twenty hours of labor her son arrives with a loud ear piercing cry. The nurses clean the baby off and get ready to take him out of the room like Emma told them to do. She had already decided that she didn't want to see him or hold him. The baby is still crying though, and it tears at her heart.

"Wait...I want to see him" she calls out just as a nurse is leaving the room.

"Are you sure?" The nurse asks, she's a veteran at this and has seen time and time again how painful after a birth mother decides she wants to hold her baby.

" I want to see him" Emma affirms as she raised her head off the bed and looked over at the tiny bassinet holding her newly born son

The nurse nods and brings the baby over, carefully laying him in Emma's arms. Emma looks down at the cooing baby and can't help but instantly fall in love him. Everything about her baby is perfect and while Emma knows every mother says this about their child it doesn't make it any less true when it comes to the baby in her arms. She has forty eight hours before the papers need to be signed, He's her's for forty eight more hours. Ruby takes one look at mother and son and asks Emma if she's sure and reminds her that she can change her mind at any point, even if a pen is already in her hand and she's about to sign her name on the final page of the adoption papers.

The forty eight hours pass too quickly for Emma's liking and soon enough Regina and Robin are there to meet the baby and sign the last of the paperwork. As soon as the door opens, Emma takes her attention off of her son and looks up at them. The words stick in her throat and she can't say what she needs to. Regina seems to understand though, she offers a small "It's okay" and a "Congratulations" before she turns and leaves the room with Robin on her heels.

" Maybe I'm your best shot, maybe you're mine " Emma says quietly, looking down at her son with a small smile.

Henry David Swan is brought home in his mother's arms three hours later. Home to the apartment that they'll share with his Auntie Ruby and to the nursery aforementioned aunt had got together the minute she'd heard of the change of plans. It's a cozy home and for the first time in her life Emma has a home and a family.


End file.
